Futures Lower; July Income, Spending Up

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were pointing to a slightly lower open Monday after personal incomes and spending rose largely as expected in July and Japan's central bank opted to help bolster the economy by easing monetary policy in an emergency board meeting.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 31 points at 10,110 and were 26 points below fair value. Futures for the S&P 500 were lower by 3 points at 1061 and were 2 points below fair value, and Nasdaq futures were lower by 2 points and were 2 points below fair value.

Stocks rallied Friday after the downward revision to second-quarter economic growth wasn't as steep as feared and after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed is prepared to take action in support of economic growth if necessary.

Feeling the pressure of its struggling economy and strong yen, Japan's central bank unveiled a new loan program that, combined with previous operations, now gives financial institutions access to a total of 30 trillion yen ($355 billion).

Personal income rose 0.2% in July as expected, according to Briefing.com. while personal spending increased 0.4%, slightly outpacing the 0.3% growth that economists had been expecting. July's figures compare with flat incomes and spending in June.

Hewlett-Packard's(HPQ) board authorized a $10 billion stock buyback, sending shares up 2.5% in premarket trading. In November, the company announced an $8 billion stock-buyback and $4.9 billion remains, according to a CNBC report.

Intel(INTC) is acquiring Infineon's wireless solutions business for $1.4 billion in cash.

3M(MMM) agreed to buy Cogent(COGT) for $10.50 a share, or $943 million.

Genzyme(GENZ) rejected Sanofi-Aventis'(SNY) $18.5 billion takeover offer, saying that it undervalues the biotech company. The French pharmaceutical company recently went public with its offer.

Cisco Systems(CSCO) made an offer to buy Skype before the Internet phone company completes its initial public offering, according to a TechCrunch report.

Nokia(NOK) and Siemens(SI) are open to the possibility of private-equity investment in their network equipment joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks, but neither are looking for an early exit, according to a Financial Times report.

In commodity markets, crude oil for October delivery was losing 25 cents to trade at $74.92 a barrel, and the December gold contract was ahead by 40 cents, trading at $1,238.30 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up by 7/32, diluting the yield to 2.621%.

Meanwhile, the dollar was trading lower against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index down by 0.1%.

Overseas, Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched 0.7% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1.8%. The FTSE in London is closed for a bank holiday and the DAX in Frankfurt was gaining 0.7%.

--Written by Melinda Peer in New York.

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